Last week’s appointment of Matthew Sturgis to the Gray Town Council to fill the seat vacated by Deborah Mancini drew objections from Gray resident James Monroe about Sturgis’s qualifications and the process by which he was appointed.

Monroe’s views about Sturgis are his own. His claim that Gray Town Council Chairman Peter Gellerson acted improperly when he solicited Sturgis to seek the open seat was wrong.

Replacements for Mancini were publicly sought for more than two weeks. No one but Sturgis stepped forward to take it. That he did so because he was asked by Gellerson is no more improper than a friend suggesting Monroe seek the seat in a conversation over coffee.

Anyone viewing Sturgis as a “handpicked replacement,” as Monroe suggested last week because Sturgis was one of two potential replacements called by Gellerson, overlooks the fact that anyone, including Monroe, could have sought the open seat.

The real problem is the lack of interest in participating in local government. Monroe alluded to this when he said there might have been “at least 10 names of people who show an interest in town affairs.” Nine of them did not step forward.

Ultimately, it is not the job of town officials to beat the bushes for people to fill government positions. But a scan of ballots in many towns each year shows that races with no candidates are as prevalent as those where one candidate runs unopposed. Quite often, a volunteer for a position is found only after write-in votes are tabulated.

In Gray, those interested were asked to apply and meet with the council before an appointment was made. Sturgis could only be hand picked if another candidate came forward as well.

It appeared interest in local politics might be on the rise in Gray this spring as attendance at the annual town meeting almost doubled from 2007.

It was at the meeting that Monroe spoke often and well about the budget, showing a solid grasp of town finances and affairs. His plea that voters consider all warrent items before passing the budget was better grounded than his complaints about the appointment of Sturgis.

The ballots for seats on the Town Council voted on in June were nicely filled and offered clear choices in canddiates.

Yet the election, turnout and Monroe’s eloquence did not translate to any interest in replacing Mancini, even for a one-year term.

Sturgis, a former councilor and currently the tax assessor in Cape Elizabeth, joked he “was looking forward to being sworn in and sworn at,” after his selection, a gibe that says volumes about the hours and atmosphere elected officials often endure.

That Gellerson, who just won his seat in June, reached out to someone he felt capable and willing to take on the task of replacing Mancini is not improper.

That Monroe or anyone else felt the council felt obliged to call everyone, or no one, to fill Mancini’s seat so as to avoid any taint of cronyism shows a flawed understanding of the system – or the taste of sour grapes.

David Harry, editor